Bee-house



(No Model W. G. RUTHERFORD.

BEE HOUSE.

No. 460,219, Patented Sept. 29,1891" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM G. RUTHERFORD, OF HIGGINSVILLE, MISSOURI.

BEE-HOUSE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 460,219, dated September 29, 1891. Application filed January 10, 1891. Serial No. 377,363. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it knownthat I, WILLIAM G. RUTHER- FORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Higginsville, in the county of Lafayette and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bee-Houses, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in bee-houses.

The object of the present invention is to provide a bee-house adapted to receive colonies of bees and capable of permitting the bees to be examined and the surplus honey removed without interfering with the bees.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a central Vertical longitudinal sectional view of a beehouse constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on line as as of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional View on line y y of Fig. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates a bee-house having vertical side walls 2 and end walls 3 and 4, the former of which end Walls is provided with a door 5. The side walls 2 of the bee-house are divided into sections by vertical partitions 6, and the spaces between the vertical partitions are divided into hive-compartments by horizontal shelves or division-boards 7. Each hive-compartment is designed to receive and accommodate a swarm or hive of bees, and the side walls of the bee-house are provided with beeopenings 8, located opposite each compartment and at the bottoms of the brood-frames, and alighting-ledges 9, arranged on the outer faces of the side walls at the bottoms of the beeopenings. The hive-compartments contain brood-frames 10, which are constructed in the usual manner and are supported by strips 11, from which the brood-frames are suspended and which cause sufficient space between the vertical partitions and the brood-frames to provide passages for the bees, and snfficient space is left between the brood-frames and the division-board of the compartment next above to contain a double row of honey-sections 12, which are placed upon the broodframes to receive the surplus honey.

Both sides of the bee-house are designed to be constructed alike; but only one side is shown complete in the drawings. lVhen itis desired to inspect the hive, the aparian enters through the door 5 and finds sufficient room in the central longitudinal space between the sides of the hive. By this construction complete control of the bees is obtained, and the brood-frames may be inspected and the honeysections removed without materially int-erfering with or disturbing the bees; and it has been found by experiment that by employing a bee-house the bees do not dwindle and die in winter and spring to such an extent as they do in hives, and the temperature is more regular and the bees suffer less from extreme heat in summer and cold in winter.

What I claim is- The bee-house shown and described, having a door 5 and provided with acentral passageway, the vertical cross-partitions secured to the inner faces of the side walls and dividing the same into sections accessible to the passage-way, the longitudinal horizontal division-boards secured to the vertical partitions and dividing the spaces between them into hive-compartments, the side walls opposite each compartment having a bee-opening and an alighting-board, the horizontal strips 11, secured to the vertical partitions in each compartment, the brood-frames suspended from the strips, and the honey-sections ar ranged above the brood-frames and being supported by the same in each compartment, substantially as described. a

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM G. RUTHERFORD. Witnesses;

O. D. Snonnnsr, D. I. BEAR. 

